Out Of The Abundance Of MY Heart My CHILD’S Mouth Speaks

Have you ever walked into a restaurant, let’s say a pizza buffet, only to make a u-turn and head right back out the door again?

I have.

It was the smell.  That pungent, there’s-no-way-that’s-really-pizza smell…it drove me right out.  I didn’t even look at the pizza.  I didn’t have to.  The smell was indicator enough as to the quality – or not quality – of what was being offered under the heat lamps.

Well, the same principal applies to us mommies and our kiddos.  Spend five minutes with my children on any given day and you’ll walk away with a pretty good idea of the condition of my heart…all based on the words that come of out of my kids’ mouths.

Scary.  Convicting.  Motivating.  Terrifying.

All children are gifts from the Lord.  My own children have brought me more joy than I ever thought possible.

So it comes natural and fairly easy – except on Mondays at 5:30pm – to be able to look into my children’s faces and be thankful for their childlike preciousness…

…every single beautiful, perfect, working part on their tiny body.
…the way they just want to play with me.  All the time.
…their hugs and kisses that encourage my weary momma heart.
…their unpredictable, socially-appalling, sometimes-embarrassing, without-discretion sense of humor.
…their cuteness!  I seriously am in love with how adorable my kids are.  I have eyes only for them.  🙂
…their growing and genuine friendship with one another.

I could go on for miles.

But what doesn’t instantly come to mind when contemplating the treasures that my children are is the fact that my children offer me (and anyone else who is around them) a wide-angle view into the condition of my own heart, for good or for bad.  And the means by which they unknowingly are putting my heart’s condition on display?  Their words.  What they talk about.  Their responses to difficult circumstances or un-fun instructions or provocation.

Out of the abundance of MY heart my CHILD’S mouth speaks.

Isn’t it funny how that phrase stirs up an automatic nervousness within you?  Sort of an instant “Oh crap!”  That’s because I know and you know that we all mess up.  All the time.  That there is sin for the taking when it comes to our parenting.

But please remember, mommas, that your children don’t only soak up and regurgitate your anger, frustration, and impatience.  If the Spirit of Christ resides in you, then His goodness and kindness and patience dwell in you as well!  And, praise God, your children will be influenced by those qualities just like they will be influenced by your sin.

So don’t be discouraged by the precious little barometers that our children are…their words can paint for you a vivid and accurate picture of what your own heart has been loving – either God or yourself.

And just like you would want to know if you had contracted some horrible disease so that you could begin treatment immediately…wouldn’t you want to know if there was some sin within you that you weren’t even aware of but was making itself known to your children?  Wouldn’t you want to be made aware of it so that you could begin treatment immediately?

With my own children, it is my five-year-old son Rudy who so often and so unknowingly gives me that wide-angle view of my own heart.

Rudy loves to build, and Legos are his blocks of choice.  He has a little Lego area set up on our kitchen table, so I get plenty of Rudy Observation Time because, let’s face it, I spend 75% of my life in the kitchen.

So one day, a couple of months ago, Rudy and I were in the kitchen together.  He was building a complicated contraption and I was washing dishes.  He had been humming to himself and I was thoroughly enjoying his little tune when, unexpectedly, a terrible and familiar sound filled the room.  It was like a very loud, angry, ugly, sigh-groan-yell type thing.  And it was highly dramatic.  Basically, some of his prized Lego creation had broken apart and literally minutes of work were wasted.

But the chill that went up my spine wasn’t due to the ugliness of the animal-like sound that just erupted from my Rudy.  The chill came from the fact that I had made that same ridiculous sound myself just the day before, and my reasoning was just the same…frustration and impatience over failure.  I had been trying to drill a hole for a picture into our plaster wall, which led to chunks of plaster flying everywhere, which led to a ruined plaster wall, which led to…the noise of despair and frustration.  Any guesses as to whom had been standing right next to me the whole time?

Rudy.  My son who saw my attempts.  Saw my failures.  And saw my response to it all.  And he apparently stored away all of what he saw as “a rational and expected way to react to failure.”

So when Rudy’s moment of frustration arose, he did what his mommy did.  Because that’s what children do.  They pick up the behaviors and attitudes of their mommies and regurgitate them as their own.

But as cringe-worthy as that moment was, (and many, many others that are way too embarrassing to share on the internet) at the end of the day I am thankful.  Because honestly, if Rudy hadn’t recreated my own sinful attitude right in front of me, I would have never even thought about it.  I would have never been aware of how my absolute disdain and intolerance for unplanned and unexpected failure shows itself in such an ugly manner.  Through Rudy, the Lord brought my sin to my attention.

You can’t fight what you don’t even know exists.  Well now I know, and now I can fight.

But remember mommas, your children can reflect the bad as well as the good.  When you are with your child in the checkout aisle and he – without any prompting – begins to tell the lady with the cast in front of you that Jesus can fix her hurt leg if she just asks Him…they are reflecting Christ in you.  They didn’t come up with that on their own.  They learned it from someone, and they are repeating it.

Out of the abundance of YOUR heart your CHILD’S mouth speaks.

Be so, so encouraged mommas.  You can see the work that Jesus is doing in you through the innocent words of your children.  You can also discover areas in your heart that need to be scrubbed clean by the Gospel.

So continue to enjoy your children, and continue to listen to them.  They are gifts in so many ways, including being your own little heart barometer.

Lauren Souers

Hi, my name is Lauren. I am the wife of one fine man and the momma of four (huge) young children – three boys and one princess! I love all of them. I mostly clean up messes and feed people all day, and it’s really fun to write about it. Jesus is the rock of my family – we love and serve a mighty King! I hope you leave here full of hope that “tired” can be good.